27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” John 4:27-34 NIV
It is nearly impossible to be a woman from the South and not have a deep connection to food. Almost everything we do revolves around a meal. I am no exception, but I have a love/hate relationship with food. I love it on many levels; not just the tastes and textures, but also the emotions and social aspects that come along with it. And it’s no wonder. Food, in my family, and in my culture, is present in every life event, from celebration to consolation. Have a baby – people bring a meal; Your grandma dies – people bring a meal; Graduate from college – we’ll have a party with lots of food; Fail your Bar Exam – let me make you a pan of brownies. People say we eat our emotions, good or bad.
For me, there are specific foods I love because they are associated with certain memories: pancakes and sausage because they could always be found at my Nannie’s house on Sunday mornings; yellow cake with chocolate icing because it is my favorite for celebrating birthdays; and rice pudding because my mom makes it in honor of the first snowfall each winter.
My hate relationship with food is the same as most everyone’s. It doesn’t behave on my thighs. So, because I love it, yet hate it, I spend a lot of time thinking about, planning for, stewing over (no pun intended) food. Some might say I spend an unreasonable, unhealthy amount of time contemplating when and what I will eat. Then, consequently, I spend a lot more time formulating plans as to when and how to exercise, diet, and lose weight – anything to make the food behave. It’s a vicious cycle, and giving up one (either the food or the exercise) doesn’t seem like a viable option.
Perhaps because I understand these strange dynamics of food, I wasn’t surprised by the disciples’ words in John 4:31. Jesus had just had the encounter with the woman at the well. The fact that a man was actually having a conversation with a woman was astonishing enough, but during their conversation Jesus prophesied over her and revealed Himself as the Messiah. The disciples saw this unfold, but they didn’t ask any questions (vs. 27). Instead, in the uncomfortable moment after the woman went away, they did what my family would do if there was confusion, unanswered questions, and nervous tension. They said, “Jesus, eat something” (vs. 31). It is Jesus’ next words that revolutionize our thinking: “‘My food,’ Jesus said, ‘is to do the will of Him who sent me…'” (vs. 34).
Hold that thought and consider for a moment Ephesians 2:10 – “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” This tells me that God has a plan for each of us; a very good, detailed, specific plan – that is His will for our lives. Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me.” So the question becomes – What if we approached doing God’s will the way we approach food?
Have you ever seen someone with a Taco Bell cup in his hand and suddenly wanted a taco for yourself? What if we saw someone living out God’s will so fully that we wanted to have what they were having?
What if we thought about God’s will for us constantly and made plans as to how we could get more of it? What if we knew we needed it to survive?
What if we planned our activities around doing God’s will? What if we included it in celebrating our successes and in consoling our hurts? I am a slave to my bathroom scales, but what if I had measures in place to gauge every day how effectively I am managing/implementing God’s will for my life?
I want food to have its proper place in my life and be appropriated a reasonable amount of my thoughts and time. I don’t want it to be my idol. I want to be like Jesus. If I am going to be consumed by food, then I want my food to be doing the will of Him who created me.
Shared by Kim Wheeler
Women@CF Blog 